


Hero

by AquilaCreed



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-11
Updated: 2015-06-11
Packaged: 2018-04-03 23:39:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4118878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AquilaCreed/pseuds/AquilaCreed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Altaïr needs to work on his rescue tactics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hero

**Author's Note:**

> Another story from my DeviantArt. No idea why I choose Robert, I just did. meh

Professor’s lectures were never that interesting, or needed for that matter (since he put everything, literary everything, he said on the web). This gave his students freedom to not pay attention during his classes. A perfect example of how not to pay attention was in the back, furthers part of the classroom.

 

Desmond and Ezio always found those classes useful for plotting what they would do after this class (since it was the last one of that day), which unavoidably led to stupid jokes and puns on others, as well as theirs, expense.

In contrast to them, Altaïr was more practical in using his time. He was sleeping with strategically placed bag in front of him, using it both as hiding wall as well as the pillow. He was not sleeping per say, but he was daydreaming; which was on the same level of not caring for the class as sleeping. And he was happy in his little world until…

 

“Hey, Altaïr, we were just talking about…” Desmond was so excited to explain to Altaïr his and Ezio’s new idea, when he realized that his words made no effect on Altaïr who was lost in his dream. “Altaïr!” now Desmond could not yell in the class (even if professor tolerated their rattling, yelling would push it over the top), so he got close to Altaïr’s ear to call for him as loud as the situation allowed it, and just to make sure, he gave him a gentle punch in the ribs “Will you stop sleeping during the class!”

 

“Wha…” Altaïr was disoriented, he was rudely brought to reality and there seemed to be some sort of pain in his ribs. Luckily, Desmond failed on regular basis to miss the spots that would actually hurt and/or do damage. “Desmond… go to hell…” his head was on his bag again as he tried to go back to his daydreaming.

 

“What? Altaïr!” Before he did or said anything more, he checked if professor was looking their way or paying any attention to the classroom; which he did not. Desmond used this opportunity to smack Altaïr on the back of his head “Wake up!” in an instant, Altaïr repaid him for the hit, forcing back of Desmond’s head to kiss the floor (together with his chair). Actions and racket drew professor’s attention to them (Ezio was barely containing his frantic laughter).

 

“What is happening back there?” his attention was directed to the three idiots in the back. Ezio was covering whole of his mouth and chin, trying to make no sound, and Altaïr was sitting like nothing happened (still a bit disoriented from sudden pull of reality).

 

“It’s ok! I found it!” Desmond managed to untangle himself from the chair. “Those pens, am I right?” his hand was clutching to the desk, trying to pull himself off the floor.

 

“Young man! In the future pay more attention during class. I honestly doubt it that something is more important than...” the sound of the bell saved everyone to hear this speech again. “Well I guess this is all for today. You are free to leave.” Professor took his books and left the classroom; which was already empty since everyone stormed out at the very sound of the bell.

 

“You idiot, why did you do that?” he tried his best to stand and walk straight, but his back was still experiencing some pain.

 

“Why did you wake me up? Or even touched me for that matter?” He didn’t really care, they punched and teased each other on daily basis. He was a lot more irritated by the fact Desmond made his daydream go away.

 

“Would you two stop bitching? Fun awaits!” Ezio ran after them (after a failed attempt to get a date for tonight, as evident from his red red-red cheek) and jumped on Desmond’s back. This almost resulted in both of them kissing the floor; Desmond’s balance did not kick back in just yet.

 

They had no more classes for today, which meant they could came to mutual agreement on what stupid thing they should do next. Last stupid thing they did included lots of pigeons and headmaster’s office.

They standard meeting and regrouping place were bleachers where there was barely anyone except those poor souls that had PE; so no one would actually bother them.

 

They were barely there for a minute when Altaïr became fixated on one of the entrances to the building. Desmond and Ezio turned their gaze to see what was holding Altaïr’s attention; and there was Robert and the rest of his gang. They both knew that Altaïr and Robert hated each other; what they did not know was why. In their defence, neither did Altaïr and Robert; they just hated each other by default. They never met, never exchanged any words, and they knew nothing about each other; there was nothing between them but hate.

 

“Altaïr, just ignore it, you two are just too different. Let’s not start something none of us want, shall we?” Ezio tried to distract him from staring daggers at Robert. He was never keen on starting a conflict, but he was always there for his friends.

 

“Whatever.” He turned his head towards park. That is where he would go after Desmond and Ezio were done with stupidities to relax and clear his mind. It was a small park with a maze in the middle (one which mostly served a purpose of decoration), but big enough that he would not run into anyone, and even if he did, he could always go to another part of it.

 

“So Desmond…” there was a devilish smile on him, he knew something “What is up with you?”

 

“What? What do you mean?” he was still kind of rubbing his back from that unfortunate fall.

 

“I saw you checking someone out, I saw you staring. _That_ kind of staring. But I could not see just who had the honours. Tell me, who’s the lucky lady?”

 

“What? No, no… It's no one, you must have got something wrong…” blush spreading across his cheeks told another story. Of course Ezio saw this.

 

“Oh now I know there is someone! Come, come, tell us! Maybe we can help.”

 

“You? Help? I would be happy if your _'helping'_ didn't involve you going out with that person!” this happened ever so often. And, of course, Ezio would have none of that. It wasn’t his fault girls could not resist him. And discussion started, again; like they did not went through something similar yesterday - just after Ezio saw Desmond staring. Both of them made compelling arguments, with Ezio slightly dominating in being found guilty for things involving him and one and (often) more ladies - he displayed no shame in admitting this, which only made Desmond rage with envy.

 

This was a mundane sight for Altaïr and he refused to be a part of it in any way. He was turned towards the park, eager for the moment he would go there to relax, when something caught his attention. A smile crossed his lips – barely visible to anyone – when he was Malik there, happily exchanging notes and papers with Shaun. He watched them as they went further into the park and out of his sight. His gaze was still focused in Malik’s direction, longing for the sight of that man; and his smile faded.

 

He does not know if it was chance or luck that had him glued to that particular direction, when he saw Robert going after the two. The way he held himself could not mean anything good; he looked like a man going after something, focused on his goal. Desmond and Ezio were still too busy to pay attention to anything else, so he left them to their pointless worry and chased after Robert (idiots didn’t even notice).

 

He finally reached the entrance to the park, last place he saw them. There were two possible paths they could have taken, and he was gripping to his hair in an attempt to figure out which way he would mindlessly run to. His decision just came with heavy steps and a pant; Shaun was walking towards him.

“Where is Malik?” his hands grabbed to Shaun’s collar before he could process what he was doing. He saw shock and surprise on his face (which was there even before his intrusion, probably caused by the events that preceded). “Tell me!” he was eager to get the answer; something was wrong there.

 

“Altaïr, what do you want? Let go of me!” he managed to free himself only because Altaïr allowed him to “Don’t meddle in things you don’t understand.” He just fixed his shirt (that fell out of place under Altaïr’s rough grip).

 

“You can tell me now or I can beat it out of you!” if his grip from before did nothing (or not enough) to intimidate Shaun, his look and stance convinced Shaun that this man would probably kill him if denied answers.

 

“The… The pond…” and with those words, Altaïr was already running in that direction “Just so you know, you are barking mad!” Shaun managed to yell after him before rushing to remove himself from there. “Idiot…”

 

He reached the pond, and the first face he saw was Malik’s. He was being held in the air by Robert – not completely, but enough for tips of his toes to barely be able to touch the ground – bringing him to his eye level. They were having and argument (which Robert was winning simply because of his physique). Before Altaïr could reach them or say anything (since he was still outraged by the sight of two), Robert ran Malik into nearby tree.

Altaïr saw as Malik’s head helplessly hit the bark and his eyes rolled as he lost consciousness. His legs gave in to the gravity, and he collapsed to the floor. Time seemed to flow so slowly as Altaïr was running towards them; but he was too late to stop this. Only thing he could do now is prevent Robert from inflicting more injuries to Malik. He tackled him down without thinking it through (not that he could think), and they both fell down beside Malik.

 

“What the…” Robert said as soon as his body hit the floor. Altaïr’s poor choice of action was evident in the next moment, when he realised that his arm was trapped under the weight of this giant. His struggle to free himself was futile. “You!” Robert had all the advantage as he used his elbow to teach Altaïr some manners.

Altaïr was too prideful, too stubborn, to scream at each hit; he would not show pain. When they fell, he heard something snap, and he felt sharp pain in his ribs; the blows from Robert only made things worse.

 

When Robert finally decided to get up and free Altaïr from his weight, he saw him curling up and grabbing for his ribs. “Oh, did I hurt you? Here, let me help you with that!” Robert’s foot kicked the exact place Altaïr felt something crack; if his ribs were not broken by the fall, this did the trick. “I am so sorry. I must not be aware of my own strength.”

 

The pain was overwhelming, as the adrenalin was coursing his body; every other blow Robert directed at him was not felt to its full extent. The kick to his head blurred his vision; and the dizzy feeling tried to lull him into sleep.

 

“And now to deal with you…” last words Altaïr managed to hear. He forced his eyes to focus on what was going on – Robert was turning to Malik. In the desperation he tried to get up, and his hand discovered a rock – about the same size as Robert’s head (it was probably responsible for his cracked ribs) – and he threw it at him (with surprise precision), at his head. Robert’s body only collapsed to the floor – unconscious or dead, it did not matter.

 

Altaïr was stretched on the floor, losing his senses, and succumbing to the darkness. Only thing he could hear was high pitched sound tearing at his ears; was that his name? - it didn’t even matter. In the last second, before everything went black, he felt his body moving; he did not recognise Malik’s shadow over him. He closed his eyes as his body went limp.

 

***

 

There was beeping, appearing rhythmically, waking him up. He was in white room with windows on the wall right to him, overlooking the city, and opposite to him, giving him view of doctors and nurses; he was in a hospital. The pain in his ribs was gone, but his head was throbbing. His hand reached to rub it and it froze in an instant when a sharp pain ran through it; there were tubes in in that prevented his free movements.

 

When he looked down to inspect himself (tucked securely with the blanket in the bed), he noticed Malik. He was sleeping with his head on the bed and a book in his hand. Altaïr ran his fingers through Malik’s hair, feeling happy that he is there with him.

Tubes in his arm no longer mattered, he pulled them all out (he must admit, not the smartest idea) and set himself on the end of the bed. Another bad idea; he felt dizzy in an instant. He slowly got up, and walked, with unsure steps, to the table that had few extra blankets, and took one. The blanket was soon wrapped around Malik, and he was back in bed – exhausted by this short venture.

 

Malik felt a little embarrassed to find himself sleeping on Altaïr’s bed. The presence of the blanket confused him when he realised something it was around him. After he saw Altaïr with unplugged tubes, and a smile appeared on his face. That idiot put that damn blanket on him.

 

“Malik, we have to go. Visiting time is over. I did not want to wake you up earlier, but I cannot stall this any longer. I will wait outside, ok?” Shaun appeared only briefly before disappearing again; he was not fond of wasting his time in hospital.

 

“I’ll be there in a minute.” He folded the blanket and put it on the chair. He tucked in Altaïr before calling the nurse to fix his tubes. After making sure everything else was in order, he leaned over Altaïr to place a kiss on his forehead and whisper something in his ear.

He whispered his thanks in Arabic, along with a few other words that he said with a smile.


End file.
